 ARGENTINA | FORMATS |
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| Format Adaptation: A Multiple and Complex Resource |
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Format adaptation was the most important topic of discussion at the last FyMTI in Buenos Aires. Tiempo Final for FOX and Montecristo on RTP in Portugal are some of the examples highlighted at the event.
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06/12/2011 |
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Ana Celia Urquidi from Argos, Gonzalo Cilley from Resonant TV and Jorge Stamadianos from Fox Latin American Channels.
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The reasons behind this ongoing trend of format adaptation was one of the issues discussed during the last International TV and Fiction Festival and Market (FyTMI) held at the InterContinental Nordelta Tigre Hotel on November 25-27, 2011.
A panel was arranged at the event, which included Nuno Vaz, TV content manager for RTP in Portugal; Ana Celia Irquidi, director of Argos Television in Mexico; Jorge Stamadianos, development VP at FOX Latin American Channels; Gonzalo Cilley, president of Resonant TV in Argentina; and Adriana Lorenzón, screenwriter of El Elegido, Montecristo and Los Roldán.
"Purchasing formats to produce a culture hybrid is something we are very interested in," Ana Celia Urquidi from the Mexican production Company Argos, says. This company is best known for its productions made at the request of the Telemundo network for the Hispanic market in the US.
The motives change when it comes to pay TV. FOX's Jorge Stamadianos believes that it's a relatively new trend and that, contrary to productions destined for the Hispanic US, one of the main advantages was "to be able to produce specific content for each territory in Latin America, leaving neutral languages behind. We found it very unappealing; the acting was weird and it was done in a language that nobody really used. In every story we adapted (from Tiempo Final) we gathered actors from every country without creating impossible scenarios. This allowed us to produce a series that the entire continent could embrace," he says.
"The format business has definitely changed and it's always growing. I believe nowadays it's not possible to develop a fictional concept from scratch, without knowing what the networks need: what they want to tell, what their budget is, what has been done before, which stories have already been told, etc," Gonzalo Cilley from Resonant TV, says.
RTP's Nuno Vaz explains that even if the Portuguese audiences prefer telenovelas such as the ones made by Globo, producers can adapt different formats to make them fit the local culture and style, and tell different, original stories which can be adapted to any society. Vaz highlights several Argentine formats such as Floricienta, Rebelde Way and Montecristo: "Argentine content is very European. It discusses realistic issues that stay true to real life."
According to Stamadianos, another benefit of format adaptation is the possibility to have better brand recognition in Latin America. "It's true that profit is very important for FOX. But the real goal is to provide original content to the Latin American viewer that has the same quality as US' series. Profits are just the cherry on top," he concludes.
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Where Everything Grows
